RE: Creating a Master Doc in Word

["Chris Anderson" <chris -at- Bizmanualz -dot- com>]

We use Master Docs for the production of large manuals (>1,000 pages) and
have not encountered any "badly broken" issues.  Master Docs may appear
quirky and require a little bit of learning to get used to with respect to
sections, styles, and overall usage but they are usefull for working with
large docs made from many smaller files.

For example, one of our manuals is close to 1,300 pages and is made from
over 250 individual word file.  We use master docs to collect them all into
one manual to make the table of contents, keyword index and print master.

Otherwise, MS-WORD is not "large Doc" friendly...  I would say that WORD is
"badly broken" when it comes to large docs.  It can crash and corrupt your
file leaving you with nothing.  We have not had that problem with Master
Docs.

A far easier, yet perhaps more cumbersome scheme, may be to use Adobe
Acrobat to make individual PDFs and then combine them into one master PDF
for printing.  Of course this does not help with the table of contents or
index but you can produce a print master.

I do not know what kind of checklist you need for Master Docs.  Just start a
blank doc.  Switch to "Outline" view.  And start inserting subdocs as
needed.  To view your creation switch back into "Print Layout".  You may
need to add additional section breaks to the Master Doc, between each
subdoc, to ensure your pages remain as originally designed.  If you have
consistently used the same styles throught all subdocs then your master will
be the same as the subdocs.  Otherwise, you will get style conflicts that
need to be resolved.

Note: Backup your originals when you start playing with Master Docs.  When
you save the Master Doc, layout changes are saved in the subdocs.  This is
where it can get funky.  Individual subdocs may not look the same when
opened because they were changed in the master and the master is noting the
layout definitions.

So I do beleive that Master Docs do have there usefullness for working with
large documents.  I would also echo Steve Hudson's guidelines on master
documents.  Before you start, read his comments:
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/masterdocs.doc

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Anderson                  Prewritten WORD Documents for:
Bizmanualz.com, Inc.     	  -- Business Department Manuals
www.Bizmanualz.com              -- Employee Policies and Procedures
International 314-863-5079 x11  -- ISO 9001 Quality Manuals,
Toll Free 1-800-466-9953        -- Business Policies and Procedures


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X4 - THE INDUSTRY STANDARD IN HELP AUTHORING 
Buy RoboHelp by July 31st and receive a $100 mail-in rebate!
Find out more about RoboHelp X4: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

Mercer University's online MS Program in Technical Communication Management:
Preparing leaders of tomorrow's technical communication organizations today.
See www.mercer.edu/mstco or write George Hayhoe at hayhoe_g -at- mercer -dot- edu -dot- 

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.